[Interview] Klaytn: From Games to RWA, CBDCs, SEA Expansion | BitPinas

Additional reporting and interview by Michael Mislos.

• The Klaytn blockchain, managed by the non-profit Klaytn Foundation, is an open-source platform supporting various services, including gaming, DeFi applications, and decentralized exchanges.
• Klaytn is the blockchain behind “Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds” and previously collaborated on the blockchain-based MMORPG MIR4.
• The company has expanded its focus beyond Korea, with a team established in Vietnam and plans to target Thailand and the Philippines in the coming year.

Paulo Caperig, the Community Lead, and Sooyoung “Eddie” Kim, the Senior Manager, Blockchain Governance & Business Development of open-source public blockchain foundation Klayton, discussed the firm’s expansion into various sectors such as gaming, real-world asset tokenization, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The two also shared their plans as they branch out from Korea into Southeast Asia.

These were shared during a special interview at the Yield Guild Games Web3 Games Summit (YGG W3GS) in November with BitPinas editor-in-chief Michael Mislos.

(This is part of our recap series for the YGG Web3 Games Summit.)

What is Klaytn? 

Eddie Kim stated that Klaytn was developed by the South Korean Internet company Kakao Group, but he also revealed that the firm has already departed from the group this year and now operates as a fully independent entity.

“This is the first case of a web2 company becoming a web3 company… just last year we focused on games but we are now expanding to other sectors,” he shared.

The Klaytn blockchain is managed by the non-profit organization Klaytn Foundation. It is a layer one open-source public blockchain built to provide a sustainable and verifiable network.

According to its website, the Klaytn ecosystem provides a range of services, including wallets, gaming, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, tools and infrastructure, and centralized exchanges (CEXs) and payment services. Its consensus algorithm is based on the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) protocol, which aims to meet enterprise-grade reliability.

Klaytn on Games

Following their expansion, Klaytn is actually the blockchain behind “Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds“— the latest installment in the RPG franchise developed by Level 5, known for its collaboration with Studio Ghibli. 

According to Kim, their first project was actually in collaboration with South Korean video game developer WeMade for the blockchain-based multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) MIR4. It became available in the Philippines in 2021. In 2022, the developers introduced WEMIX$, a stablecoin that operates on its own blockchain.

“After the success of WEMIX, other studios, game companies, in Korea want to do the same thing (but) they have some fear about the platform. Some other companies fear that they may lose everything (if they fail) because they are paying money to Google, right? They don’t want to experience the same thing on web3. So they started to ask us how we can build,” he stated.

Caperig also noted their onboarding success to their firm’s roots are “very web2” like which established “a lot of trust.”

“Institutional trust is huge for the market in Korea, right? So we’re in Kakaotalk, for example, that’s over 40 million users already. So because of that house brand name, it made a lot of game companies to be comfortable putting their assets, their games, on our chain… So I think that trust factor is what separates us from other chains in Korea,” he added.

Klaytn with RWA

In addition to its blockchain-related activities, Klaytn is also involved in business partnerships or collaborations involving real-world assets tokenization with companies such as Investa X.

According to them, the firm is tokenizing various assets, including US treasury bills, real estate, and potentially gold by next year. 

Additionally, they also mentioned partnering with a conglomerate from Indonesia, Korindo, for financing in the shipping industry. Klaytn also hopes to expand into AgriTech in the Philippines.

Klaytn CBDC Efforts

In addition, Klaytn is one of the private blockchain firms with whom the Bank of Korea (BOK) is currently in discussions regarding CBDCs. 

“We are the main implementer of the CBDC in Korea… The chain in CBDC is a private chain. They are not using our public chain, but they are based on our technology because we build the platform,” Kim disclosed. 

Consequently, the firm partnered with Ethereum developer ConsenSys to advance its CBDC efforts. However, the BOK has not yet decided whether to proceed with a CBDC.

A CBDC is a digital form of a central bank’s traditional money that can serve as a medium of exchange or store of value. As the name suggests, it is a digital currency that is issued and regulated by a central bank.

Klaytn in SEA

“So actually before this year we never tried to expand to other countries. We participate in several global events, but we never try to focus on a certain country. But this year (2023) we started from Vietnam, we built our team in Vietnam and also doing a lot of events for the developers. And so next year we plan to target Thailand and Philippines,” Kim said.

He further added that this is also the reason why they attended the YGG W3GS, to better understand the demand of the Filipino people, what is popular, and to better understand the market.

“Expect more presence from us here in Philippines, I think. Expect a lot more penetration in tokenized assets, you know beyond games. So real world assets I think are really the play,” Caperig added.

This article is published on BitPinas: [Interview] Klaytn: From Games to RWA, CBDCs, SEA Expansion

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